Indian Mound Cemetery is a cemetery located along the Northwestern Turnpike (

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlanti ...

) on a

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...

of the "Yellow Banks" overlooking the South Branch Potomac River and

Mill Creek Mountain Mill Creek Mountain is a continuous mountain ridge that runs northeast through Hampshire and Hardy counties in the Eastern Panhandle region of the U.S. state of West Virginia. Rising to its greatest elevation of at High Knob, Mill Creek is a fol ...

in Romney, West Virginia, United States. The cemetery is centered on a Hopewellian mound, known as the Romney Indian Mound. Indian Mound Cemetery is also the site of

Fort Pearsall Fort Pearsall was an early frontier fort constructed in 1756 in Romney, West Virginia (then known as Pearsall's Flats, Virginia) to protect local settlers in the South Branch Potomac River valley against Native American raids. The area around pr ...

, the Confederate Memorial,

Parsons Bell Tower Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...

, and reinterments from Romney's Old Presbyterian Cemetery. The cemetery is currently owned and maintained by the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc. Indian Mound Cemetery is the burial site of two

governors of West Virginia The governor of West Virginia is the head of government of West VirginiaWV Constitution article VII, § 5. and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces.WV Constitution article VII, § 12. The governor has a duty to enforce state law ...

, a United States House Representative, a United States Secretary of the Army, an owner of the Washington Redskins, and descendants of the family of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

. Days before the 150th anniversary of the Confederate Monument's dedication was to be observed, it was vandalized. The vandalism read "reparations now", and was done using black spray paint. The damage to the monument has since been repaired.

History

Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2005 09 16 02

Romney Indian Mound

Physical description

The Romney Indian mound is a burial mound that measures in height and approximately in diameter, according to the site marker. Since this marker was erected, further research indicates the mound has been opened at some point in the past. It is the largest of the remaining mounds discovered in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. The Romney Indian Mound is representative of thousands of small Middle and

Late Woodland In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeologi ...

burial mounds that occurred throughout much of eastern North America. Throughout its history, the Romney Indian Mound has traditionally been covered in pine trees, of which several remain as of 2010.

Origins

The Romney Indian Mound was constructed at what was once the crossroads of the Shawnee Trail, running north and south, and the east-west Indian Road (later the Northwestern Turnpike and

) leading to the Allegheny Mountains. The original owner of the mound, David Gibson, gave the site to the city of Romney on the condition that the mound would not be disturbed. For this reason, the city has never allowed the mound to be excavated. The Smithsonian Institution suggests the Romney Indian Mound possibly dates from between 500 and 1000 CE given the ages of similar mounds it excavated in the Eastern Panhandle. The mound was likely constructed by peoples of the Hopewell culture, who resided within West Virginia between 500 BC and 1,000 CE. The Romney Indian Mound is perhaps the only accessible mound east of the Allegheny Mountains that has been preserved. This is mostly due in part to both its location high above the

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of the South Branch Potomac River and that it was never

plow A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...

ed over.

Indian Mound Cemetery Company and Association

Several years prior to the onset of the American Civil War, Romney's Old Presbyterian Cemetery at Gravel Lane and High Street had become full and the city of Romney sought to procure a larger tract for a new spacious cemetery. Indian Mound Cemetery was incorporated by an act of the Virginia General Assembly around 1859. The land was conveyed to the Indian Mound Cemetery Company by David Gibson on May 31, 1860. The land conveyed by Gibson had previously been a tract of his nearby Sycamore Dale plantation. The cemetery's original design consisted of two plats: the higher plat around the Romney Indian Mound and the lower plat above Sulphur Spring Run reserved for the burials of African Americans. The latter separated from Indian Mound Cemetery and became known as the

Mount Pisgah Benevolence Cemetery Mount Pisgah Benevolence Cemetery is an African-American cemetery in Romney, West Virginia, United States. The cemetery is located along the Northwestern Turnpike (U.S. Route 50) below Indian Mound Cemetery overlooking Sulphur Spring Run. Histor ...

, which is currently maintained by the Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church. On May 22, 1869, a meeting was held at the Hampshire County Courthouse to elect a board of directors of the Indian Mound Cemetery Company. The company operated the cemetery until it was incorporated by the state of West Virginia on August 25, 1925, as the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc. The association has been administered by a self-perpetuating board of directors since 1925. On October 6, 1925, an additional five acres to the north were purchased by the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc. from Hiram C. and Katie Feidner Cooper.

American Civil War

Confederate Memorial Romney WV 2015 06 08 01

Battle of Romney

Due to its strategic location on a bluff commanding views of the South Branch Potomac River, the Romney Covered Bridge, and the Northwestern Turnpike for half a mile, Indian Mound Cemetery was an important lookout position during the American Civil War. On October 22, 1861, Union Army General Scott ordered General

Benjamin Franklin Kelley Benjamin Franklin Kelley (April 10, 1807 – July 16, 1891) was an American soldier who served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He played a prominent role in several military campaigns in West Virginia and ...

to concentrate his forces at New Creek (now known as Keyser) and attack and capture Romney. Kelley left New Creek early on the morning of October 27 and the Confederate States Army at Romney began preparations for his arrival. The Confederates planted a twelve-pound rifle cannon and a

mountain howitzer A howitzer () is a long-ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like oth ...

in Indian Mound Cemetery ready to fire at the lead of the Union Army

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

as it emerged from

Mechanicsburg Gap Mechanicsburg Gap (also known as Mill Creek Gap) is a water gap through Mill Creek Mountain in Hampshire County, West Virginia, Hampshire County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Mechanicsburg Gap allows for the passage of the Northwestern Turn ...

. The Union forces drove in and advanced to Indian Mound Cemetery where the Confederate forces made a stand and opened fire on the Federals with the twelve-pound rifle cannon and the mountain howitzer. A severe cannonade took place between the artillery of both the Union and Confederate forces for an hour.

Burials

Also during the American Civil War, Indian Mound Cemetery was used as a burial ground by both Union and

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

armies. The majority of soldiers killed in the vicinity of Romney were buried in blankets in the cemetery, many whose names are unknown. Captain Richard Ashby, the brother of Confederate General Turner Ashby, was interred with all the honors of war under a giant oak tree on July 4, 1861, in Indian Mound Cemetery shortly after his death at nearby

Washington Bottom Farm Ridgedale (also known as Washington Bottom Farm, Ridge Dale, and as the George W. Washington House and Farm) is a 19th-century Greek Revival plantation house and farm on a plateau overlooking the South Branch Potomac River north of Romney, Wes ...

on July 3 from wounds received in a skirmish on the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

. Turner Ashby attended his brother's funeral at Indian Mound Cemetery where his behavior was described in

Edward A. Pollard Edward Alfred Pollard (February 27, 1832December 17, 1872) was an American author, journalist, and Confederate sympathizer during the American Civil War who wrote several books on the causes and events of the war, notably ''The Lost Cause: A New ...

's ''Southern History of the War'' as touching: Ashby's body was removed from the cemetery to Stonewall Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia, in October 1862 where it was reinterred next to Ashby's brother General Turner Ashby. Their grave is marked "The Brothers Ashby."

Confederate Memorial

The Confederate Memorial was erected by local ladies in honor of Hampshire County's Confederate dead and dedicated in Indian Mound Cemetery on September 26, 1867. It is considered one of the oldest, if not the first, permanent memorials to Confederate dead in the United States.

Notable interments

Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2015 06 08 24

Stephen Ailes Stephen Ailes (May 25, 1912 – June 30, 2001) was a prominent member of the District of Columbia Bar and a partner in the firm of Steptoe & Johnson. He served as the United States Under Secretary of the Army from February 9, 1961, to January 28, ...

(1912–2001), United States Secretary of the Army * William Armstrong (1782–1865), United States House Representative from Virginia *

John Rinehart Blue John Rinehart Blue (October 13, 1905 – May 27, 1965) was an American military officer, educator, businessperson, and politician in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Blue was a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic member of the West Vir ...

(1905–1965), West Virginia House Delegate from Hampshire County *

William C. Clayton William C. Clayton (January 24, 1831 – March 11, 1915) was an American educator, lawyer, politician, and businessperson in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Clayton served in the West Virginia Senate representing the Eleventh Senatorial Distr ...

(1831–1915), West Virginia State Senator *

Edna Brady Cornwell Edna Brady Cornwell (1868–1958) was the wife of former Governor of West Virginia John J. Cornwell and served as that state's First Lady, 1917-1921. She was born May 26, 1868, at Romney, West Virginia. In 1891 she married John J. Cornwell, publis ...

(1868–1958), First Lady of West Virginia *

John Jacob Cornwell John Jacob Cornwell (July 11, 1867 – September 8, 1953) was a Democratic politician from Romney in Hampshire County, West Virginia. Cornwell served as the 15th Governor of the US state of West Virginia. Cornwell also served in the West Vir ...

(1867–1953), 15th Governor of West Virginia *

Marshall S. Cornwell Marshall Silas Cornwell (October 18, 1871 – May 26, 1898) was a 19th-century American newspaper publisher and editor, writer and poet in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Cornwell was a younger brother of railroad and lumber, timber Chief execu ...

(1871–1898), newspaper editor and publisher, poet, and author *

William B. Cornwell William Benjamin Cornwell (November 25, 1864 – April 8, 1926) was an American lawyer, businessperson, newspaper editor and publisher, and railroad and lumber, timber executive in the U.S. state of West Virginia. He was an older brother of writ ...

(1864–1926), railroad and timber executive *

John Collins Covell John Collins Covell (December 19, 1823 – June 4, 1887) was a 19th-century American educator and school administrator specializing in deaf education in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. Born in 1823 in Rhode Island, Covell was th ...

(1823–1887), Principal of the

West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind The West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (WVSDB) were established by an Act of the Legislature on March 3, 1870. The School for the Deaf and the School for the Blind offer comprehensive educational programs for hearing impaired and vi ...

* Dr.

William Henry Foote William Henry Foote (December 20, 1794 – November 22, 1869) was an American Presbyterian minister in Virginia and North Carolina. He served as a Confederate States Army, Confederate chaplain during the American Civil War of 1861-1865. He wrote ...

(1794–1869), Presbyterian clergyman and historian * Henry Bell Gilkeson (1850–1921), West Virginia State Senator, West Virginia House of Delegates member, Principal of the

, and Superintendent of

Hampshire County Schools Hampshire County Schools is the operating school district within Hampshire County, West Virginia, Hampshire County, West Virginia. It is governed by the Hampshire County Board of Education. Schools High schools Serves grades 9-12 *Hampshire High S ...

* John Jeremiah Jacob (1757–1839), first ordained Methodist minister in Hampshire County * John Jeremiah Jacob (1829–1893), 4th Governor of West Virginia *

Howard Hille Johnson Howard Hille Johnson (February 19, 1846 – February 8, 1913) was a blind American educator and writer in the states of Virginia and West Virginia. Johnson was instrumental in the establishment of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf an ...

(1846–1913), founder of and educator at the

James Sloan Kuykendall James Sloan Kuykendall (December 9, 1878 – February 12, 1928) was an American farmer, lawyer, and Democratic politician in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Kuykendall was twice elected as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates repre ...

(1878–1928), West Virginia House Delegate * George Preston Marshall (1896–1969), owner and president of the Washington Redskins * Gilbert Proctor Miller (1866–1927), orchardist; founder of Hampshire County's fruit industry *

Alexander W. Monroe Alexander W. Monroe (December 29, 1817 – March 16, 1905) was a prominent American lawyer, politician, and military officer in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. Monroe served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1850–1 ...

(1817–1905), Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates and Confederate States Army officer * George William Washington (1809–1876), gentleman farmer and diarist *

Christian Streit White Christian Streit White (March 10, 1839 – January 28, 1917) was an American military officer, lawyer, court clerk, pisciculturist, and politician in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. During the American Civil War, White served ...

(1839–1917), Clerk of Court for Hampshire County * John Baker White (1868–1944), Military officer and West Virginia Board of Control member * Robert White (1876–1935), Prosecuting Attorney for Hampshire County and West Virginia State Senator *

Joshua Soule Zimmerman Joshua Soule Zimmerman (January 16, 1874 – September 2, 1962) was an American lawyer, politician, and orchardist in the U.S. state of West Virginia. In the early years of the 20th century, Zimmerman served as the Prosecuting Attorney for Hamp ...

(1874–1962), West Virginia House Delegate, Hampshire County Prosecuting Attorney, and orchardist

Image gallery

File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 02.JPG, Iron fence at the entrance File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 04.JPG, Entrance gate and Parsons Bell Tower File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 05.JPG, Parsons Bell Tower File:Parsons Bell Tower Romney WV 2005 08 21 01.jpg, Parsons Bell Tower File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 06.JPG, Caretaker's residence File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2005 09 16 03.jpg, Romney Indian Mound File:IndianMoundCemetery1942RomneyWV.jpg, Indian Mound Cemetery and U.S. Route 50 in 1942 File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2015 06 08 34.JPG, Unknown Confederate graves, decorated for Confederate Memorial Day File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2005 09 16 04.jpg, Gravestones at Indian Mound Cemetery File:Confederate Memorial Romney WV 2010 04 25 02.jpg, Confederate Memorial File:Confederate Memorial Romney WV 2005 08 21 02.jpg, Confederate Memorial detail File:Fort Pearsall Marker Romney WV 2005 09 16 01.jpg, Old Fort Pearsall historical marker File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 11.JPG, New Fort Pearsall historical marker File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 14.JPG, Washington family plot File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 20.JPG, Grave of Gilbert Proctor Miller, founder of Hampshire County's fruit industry File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 13.JPG, View of Mill Creek Mountain and the South Branch Potomac River File:Harmison family marker.jpg, Harmison family marker

References

External links

Indian Mound Cemetery Inventory

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Indian Mound Cemetery 1859 establishments in Virginia American Civil War sites in West Virginia Archaeological sites in West Virginia Cemeteries in West Virginia Confederate States of America cemeteries Hampshire County, West Virginia, in the American Civil War Hopewellian peoples Mounds in West Virginia Northwestern Turnpike Protected areas of Hampshire County, West Virginia Romney, West Virginia Rural cemeteries